Pro Video Editors, I need your advice please!

[rgbmaster]

Hi!

I am getting more and more into video editing and I would appreciate your advice, as I am trying to decide between buying latest iMac 2017 with i7 4.2Gz + Radeon Pro 580 or building a Hackintosh also with i7 4.2Gz but GeForce GTX 1080 Ti.

Since I primarily work in Premiere and After Effects, currently editing mostly for youtube h.264 and 1080p/1440p, with this configuration, say exactly same project, this iMac vs PC:

• which one will be faster working in timeline w/o pre-rendering footage (moving around, scrubbing, adding effects, etc) How significant will be this difference?
• which one will be faster exporting for youtube 1080p/1440p. How faster would it be?

Mainly, I want to feel VERY! comfortable when working in Premiere/AF (no lag) and I am ok to wait for export. I realise that building a Hackintosh will give me better options for parts, better selection and it'll be cheaper. But I am also concerned about installing, stability, ease of updates, etc as I would rather spend my time working/editing than tinkering around.

My Hackintosh parts: (please advice if anything is not compatible / there are better options)

Intel - Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (with a plan to update to i7-6950X down the road)
Noctua - NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler
Asus - MAXIMUS IX HERO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (or some GIGABYTE Motherboard)
Corsair - Vengeance LED 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3000 Memory
Samsung - 850 Pro Series 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Samsung - 850 Pro Series 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Samsung - 950 PRO 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive
Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB AORUS Xtreme Edition 11G Video Card
Phanteks - Enthoo Evolv ATX Glass ATX Mid Tower Case
Corsair - 850W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Gigabyte - GC-WB867D-I PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter
LG - 27UD88-W 27.0" 3840x2160 60Hz Monitor


Thank you.

 

[trs96]

The GTX 1080 Ti is a much better choice for Premiere Pro. You definitely want that over AMD graphics. Everything else looks good except for wifi. Not sure if the wifi card you have listed is compatible with mac OS so research that more.

The only caveat is that you won't be able to upgrade to a I7-6950X CPU when you go with this Asus motherboard as it is socket 1151 and the 6950X does not fit that socket. The 7700K should be good for a very long time though so it's not a deal breaker by any means. The main advantage of the CustoMac over an iMac is that you can overclock the CPU and keep it cooler with your Noctua when pushing it hard for long periods of time. In the non-pro versions of the iMac, thermal throttling of the CPU is a problem for video editors.

Here's a User Build you can follow: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...x-hero-i7-7700k-32gb-ram-intel-630-hd.222316/

Support in High Sierra will be great as the new iMacs are Kaby Lake based. Nothing to worry about there.

 

[lakeone]

Youre Hakintosh will be a Video Editing Monster (if he works!), the Original iMac not! Go for NVIDIA when using Premiere Pro! Im a professional Full Time Video Cutter, and I can tell you the 1080 will work fine. But the 1060 will be enough if youre not going to cut in RAW or 6K! Read this article before buying a 800$ GPU! The 1060 is on a 1080 and 4K Compressed Footage Timeline at the same Speed like a 1080!

In some Cases a i7-7700 is faster than a i7-6950! But the GPU is much more important!

Read this test!

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...Intel-Core-i7-7700K-i5-7600K-Performance-884/
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...CC-2017-NVIDIA-Titan-Xp-12GB-Performance-930/

I have a Original MacPro 5.1 with a overclocked AMD HD 7950 (flashed), and Premiere Pro runs with Sony AR2 4K Footage on 1/2 Quality "nearly" fluid with Effects Luts and Color Grading. But rendering is terrible! Yesterday I tried a MSI GTX 1060 in my MacPro with the Nvidia Web Driver and CUDA Download Packge, and the Hell! Premiere Pro becomes extrem fluid even on FULL quality playback. Rendering is BOOM fast like superman!

 

[rikk08]

Youre Hakintosh will be a Video Editing Monster (if he works!), the Original iMac not! Go for NVIDIA when using Premiere Pro! Im a professional Full Time Video Cutter, and I can tell you the 1080 will work fine. But the 1060 will be enough if youre not going to cut in RAW or 6K! Read this article before buying a 800$ GPU! The 1060 is on a 1080 and 4K Compressed Footage Timeline at the same Speed like a 1080!

In some Cases a i7-7700 is faster than a i7-6950! But the GPU is much more important!

Read this test!

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...Intel-Core-i7-7700K-i5-7600K-Performance-884/
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...CC-2017-NVIDIA-Titan-Xp-12GB-Performance-930/

I have a Original MacPro 5.1 with a overclocked AMD HD 7950 (flashed), and Premiere Pro runs with Sony AR2 4K Footage on 1/2 Quality "nearly" fluid with Effects Luts and Color Grading. But rendering is terrible! Yesterday I tried a MSI GTX 1060 in my MacPro with the Nvidia Web Driver and CUDA Download Packge, and the Hell! Premiere Pro becomes extrem fluid even on FULL quality playback. Rendering is BOOM fast like superman!

In addition to what lakeone said, I'd suggest going for the GTX 1070 -> it's between the GTX 1060 and GTX 1080 in terms of price and performance but it's a decent card and should last a couple of years at least. It's also good for gaming and even though I was going for the 1060 due to budget reasons but I read about a few bugs on the 1060 so I might invest more money for better performance.

 

[rgbmaster]

Thank you for all your feedback, this community is great!

@trs96

The only caveat is that you won't be able to upgrade to a I7-6950X CPU

That's one expensive CPU. When I'll have this in my budget, I will also be able to get a new MB.

@lakeone

Rendering is BOOM fast like superman!

Lol, thank you, thats the work process I am looking for. I am editing on Early 2013 MacBook Pro now and its just a pain...

(if he works!)

Any reason it would not be able to?

@rikk08

I'd suggest going for the GTX 1070

Thank you. I think I'll stick with 1080 Ti simply because I am exited for this build to be a monster and I don't want to have that feeling "well, if only I went with 1080TI..." down the road when I try gaming on it with max settings...

 

[tumblemonster]

I'm going to build something very similar to this. I had originally planned a 6700K / 170 build but now that Kaby Lake support is imminent I'm going 7700k instead. I also planned to go with an Asus motherboard, is there any concern with the 1080 ti interfering with the wifi card in the PCIe slots? How many total slots at what speed do I need?

 

[lakeone]

If he works... I mean the complete System. Hakintosh is not easy. What about Updates & Safety?
I just mean, in my personal perspective as a independent every day cutter, I am very dependent from my "PC" Workstation.
If, for what ever reason the Hakintosh will suddenly stop working Im extrem under time pressure.
I have fixed deadlines and not much time to hack a PC again and again. Don´t miss-understand me, I love to build a Hakintosh, but I will try to build a very very perfect one, with out any provisionally solution. I now start to read more and more about this.
If I use a original MAC and he completely fails, I just can directly buy a new one and but in TimeMashine. How is this on a Hakintosh? Possible?

Last Week I ordered this Parts, but I returned everything:
Asus Z-170 Gaming Pro
Audio: Realtek ALC 1150 + Asus Supreme ****? Not working
Ethernet Intel i 219v: Working out of box
i7-7700K Working with Fake ID (Easy Oc to 4.7 GHZ)
GTX 1060 (MSI X - the red one) not working with Nvidia Web Driver & Tonys Plist editing

I spent 3 Nights and days with the GTX 1060 and the Audio Codec... not working!
I will now go for another MB (probably Gigabyte) + i7-7700K and a GTX 1070, I will try it again!
Now I think I now what my fail was, I picked the wrong Systemdefiniton (MacPro 6.1)
What should I choose? And why? Where can i find information about that?

At this time Im working on a real MacPro 5.1 with 12 Cores 3ghz and 48 GB Ram + AMD HD 7950 (Gigabyte flashed). When I make Video-Proxy-Files (I need it!) It needs hours, and the MacPro is so loud and hot! I Need another Solution, and again 5000$ for an original one is to much for what Apple has yet. Even the upcoming iMac PRO $$$$ WTF!

I think this is the most Premium hakintosh with a absolute excellent how to!
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...ill-tridentz-aorus-gtx-1080-ti-xtreme.211621/

I hope you will get started youre hakintosh! Please tell us when done, or you have Problems! If youre System runs perfect I will copy yours!